1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transporting apparatus for rolling ingots, in particular aluminum rolling ingots, to the use of such a transporting apparatus and to a method for transporting rolling ingots.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the industrial production of aluminum semifinished products, the aluminum in the form of rolling ingots is first of all subjected to a heat treatment in order subsequently to be converted in a rolling mill into the desired sheet metal shape. The heat treatment leads to heating and homogenizing of the aluminum, which facilitates the rolling process and increases the quality of the semifinished product produced.
It is known to use ingot pusher furnaces for heating and homogenizing aluminum rolling ingots. Furnaces of this type are stationary and in each case comprise an inlet side and an outlet side. Rails are attached in between in the longitudinal direction within the furnace. Ingot pusher furnaces customarily comprise two rails which serve as a guide for ingot rests. The ingot rests are produced from cast iron and are sufficiently heat-resistant to ensure dimensional stability within the heated-up ingot pusher furnace. The rolling ingots to be heated are deposited on said rests and moved through the furnace. Continuous heating of rolling ingots is thereby possible.
The ingot pusher furnace is charged via a roller table on which the rolling ingots are brought up to the furnace. The roller table is positioned at right angles to the furnace. A charging apparatus, also called “up-ender”, picks up a respective ingot from the roller table and deposits said ingot onto the ingot rests. As soon as the furnace inlet door is opened, the ingot rests together with the rolling ingot are pushed into the furnace. The continuous pushing of ingot rests into the furnace causes the ingot rests and rolling ingots to be pushed through the furnace.
On the outlet side, the ingot rests with the rolling ingot placed thereon are pulled out of the furnace by a pull-out apparatus. A tipping apparatus, also called “down-ender”, deposits the heated-up rolling ingot onto a roller table of the rolling mill.
Both the up-ender and the down-ender are securely anchored on the factory floor foundations on the inlet side and outlet side of the ingot pusher furnace. This means that each up-ender or down-ender is in each case assigned to an ingot pusher furnace. It has turned out in practice that the fixed assignment of a pull-out apparatus or tilting apparatus to an ingot pusher furnace leads to an unfavorable utilization of the pull-out or tilting apparatus. Due to the waiting times which are caused by the rolling ingots only being discharged from the ingot pusher furnace intermittently, the pull-out or tilting apparatus is shut down for relatively long periods. At the same time, when a plurality of pusher ingot furnaces are used, a dedicated pull-out or tilting apparatus is required for each ingot pusher furnace, which leads to higher investment and maintenance costs.